Self-clinching cable tie mount

ABSTRACT

A self-clinching fastener that when pressed into a thin sheet panel provides for a strong attachment point for a cable tie. The inventive fastener relies on the self-clinching process to carry external loads and thus carries larger loads when compared to adhesive backed cable tie mounts. When installed, the self-clinching fastener becomes flush with the far side of the sheet panel.

This application is a CON of application Ser. No. 10/028,281, filed Dec.28, 2001, now abandoned, which is a CON of application Ser. No.09/618,609, filed Jul. 17, 2000, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,367,745.

BACKGROUND—FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to self-clinching fasteners that providefor a secure mounting location for common cable ties.

BACKGROUND—DESCRIPTION OF PRIOR ART

Manufacturers of industrial machines quite often make use of wireharnesses to distribute electrical power to various locations within amachine. It is common to run bundles of wire along a sheet metal panelin order to distribute the bundles of wires. These bundles are oftenanchored to a sheet panel in discreet locations to prevent the wiresfrom coming in contact with harmful elements.

A common approach to anchoring these wire bundles to a panel makes useof a plastic molded cable mount with an adhesive backing. Examples of anadhesive backed cable tie mount is disclosed by Robert Nicoli in U.S.Pat. No. 4,805,856. The Nicoli adhesive mount is simply applied to asheet panel via the adhesive backing on the cable tie mount itself. Thisprovides for an anchor point for a cable tie.

Another tie mount was disclosed by Hirosni Osada in U.S. Pat. No.4,705,245. Osada teaches about a tie mount that snaps into a sheet panel

The disadvantage of the Nicoli adhesive mount is its tendency todislodge itself over time from the sheet panel. The adhesive backingquite often fails when too much load is placed on the adhesive mount.Also, the final placement of the adhesive backed mount on a panel isquite often inconsistent due to the installation process of simplylaying the adhesive mount on a sheet panel.

The disadvantage of the Osada snap-action mount is it can only handle alimited amount of loading. Also, the Osada mount does not display aflush surface on the far side of the sheet panel.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, several objects and advantages of my invention are:

-   (a) to improve the load bearing capability of a cable tie mount    without the use of a screw;-   (b) to reduce the assembly time for installing a cable tie mount for    a high load application;-   (c) to improve the positional accuracy of locating a cable tie    mount; and-   (d) to provide a self-clinching fastener used as a cable tie mount    that has a low profile and a flush appearance on the far side of the    sheet panel.

Still further objects and advantages will become apparent from aconsideration of the ensuing description and drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an isometric view of the first embodiment;

FIG. 2 shows a front view of FIG. 1 clearly depicting the substantiallyrectangular cross section of the cavity;

FIG. 3 shows a section view of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 shows an assembly view of the first embodiment in relation to asheet panel and a cable tie;

FIG. 5 shows an isometric view of the second embodiment;

FIG. 6 shows an isometric view of the third embodiment;

FIG. 7 shows an isometric view of the fourth embodiment;

FIG. 8 shows an isometric view of the fifth embodiment; and

FIG. 9 shows a front view of FIG. 8.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

With initial reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, a self-clinching cable tiemount 10 is shown. Mount 10 has a body 15. Protruding outward andadjacent to body 15 are two extended lands 11 and 12. Extended land 11and extended land 12 are set apart from one another. Both extended lands11 and 12 are parallel to one another. Formed into body 15 are twoundercut grooves 13 and 14. Undercut groove 13 and extended land 11 areadjacent and parallel to one another. Undercut groove 14 and extendedland 12 are adjacent and parallel to one another. Body 15 joins extendedlands 11 and 12 with undercut grooves 13 and 14.

From FIG. 2, body 15 has an external guide wall 16 that is adjacent toundercut groove 13. An external guide wall 17 is located on body 15 andopposite in side to external guide wall 16. External guide wall 17 isadjacent to undercut groove 14. Both external guide walls 16 and 17slope inward and away from undercut grooves 13 and 14.

From FIGS. 1 through 3, a cavity 23 whose length extends through body 15perpendicular to an axis joining both extended lands 11 and 12. Thewidth of cavity 23 is measured perpendicular to the length of cavity 23.The height of cavity 23 is measured perpendicular to a plane joiningextended land 11 to extended land 12 and perpendicular to the width ofcavity 23. The height and width of cavity 23 are both measured in aplane that is parallel to the cross section of cavity 23. For fastener10 shown in FIG. 1, the cross section of cavity 23 is substantiallyrectangular in shape. However, the corners of the substantiallyrectangular cavity 23 may not be sharp and thus the overall crosssection of cavity 23 could then be considered obround, trapezoidal, orany general shape where the width is greater than the height.

With reference to FIGS. 1 through 3, a side guide wall 18 and a sideguide wall 19 formed into body 15 both lead up to cavity 23. A top guidewall 24 is formed into body 15 and is adjacent to side guide walls 18and 19. Top guide wall 24 is located along cavity 23. Both side guidewalls 18 and 19 slope inward and toward cavity 23. Opposite to top guidewall 24 and adjacent to side guide walls 18 and 19 is a bottom guidewall 22. Top guide wall 24 slopes outward and away from bottom guidewall 22 and outward and away from extended lands 11 and 12.

With further reference to FIGS. 1 through 3, by copying and rotatingside guide walls 18 and 19 and top guide wall 24 one hundred and eightydegrees about an axis I—I (FIG. 1), two more side guide walls 20 and 21and a top guide wall 25 are formed into body 15.

From FIG. 4, a sheet panel 28 has a cutout 27 that goes through thethickness of sheet panel 28. A cable tie 29 has a substantiallyrectangular cross section.

While the above description contains many specifications, these shouldnot be construed as limitations on the scope of the invention, butrather as an exemplification of the first embodiment thereof.

For example, FIG. 5 shows a second embodiment 30 that is derived fromfirst embodiment 10 by removing side guide walls 20 and 21 and top guidewall 25 from embodiment 10 to form a cavity 33 on embodiment 30.

FIG. 6 shows a third embodiment 50 that is derived from first embodiment10 by removing side guide walls 18, 19, 20, 21, and top guide walls 24and 25 from body 15. Also removed are external guide walls 16 and 17.The removed walls leave third embodiment 50 with no sloping walls andtherefore all walls are either vertical or horizontal with no taperingslope.

FIG. 7 shows a fourth embodiment 70 that is derived from firstembodiment 10. Embodiment 70 is formed by removing side guide walls 18,19, 20, 21, top guide walls 24 and 25, external guide walls 16 and 17,and rotating extended lands 11 and 12 and undercut grooves 13 and 14ninety degrees about the II—II axis.

FIG. 8 shows a fifth embodiment 90. Fifth embodiment 90 has two extendedlands 93 and 94. Embodiment 90 has two external guide walls 91 and 92that are 90° out of phase with extended lands 93 and 94.

All Embodiments are made preferably of steel and are most often platedto resist corrosion. The preferred embodiments can be conveniently madefrom steel using the powder metal process. Nevertheless, other metalsand processes, such as aluminum and the extruding process, can also beused provided they have sufficient strength and other required physicalcharacteristics.

In operation self-clinching cable tie mount 10 is passed into cutout 27located in sheet panel 28. External guide walls 16 and 17 assist inguiding fastener 10 through cutout 27. Fastener 10 is further advancedthrough cutout 27 until extended lands 11 and 12 first make contact withsheet panel 28. Using the appropriate tooling, fastener 10 is thenpressed into sheet panel 28 by means of the self-clinching process. Theself-clinching process requires both extended lands 11 and 12 todisplace a portion of sheet panel 28 into undercut grooves 13 and 14.When displaced material from sheet panel 28 has flowed into undercutgrooves 13 and 14, fastener 10 is clinched into sheet panel 28.

With fastener 10 firmly clinched into sheet panel 28, cable tie 29 isthen inserted through cavity 23. Side guide walls 18 and 19 along withbottom guide wall 22 and top guide wall 24 help guide cable tie 29through cavity 23. Entry into cavity 23 can also be accomplished bycable tie 29 first approaching side guide walls 20 and 21 in addition totop guide wall 25 and bottom guide wall 22.

Second embodiment 30 is operated similar to fastener 10. However, secondembodiment 30 only permits the guided entrance of cable tie 29 from oneside of cavity 33.

Third embodiment 50 is operated similar to fastener 10. However, thirdembodiment 50 does not provide for a guided entrance from either side ofcavity 56. Also, third embodiment 50 does not have external guide walls16 and 17 found on embodiment 10. Third embodiment 50 function asembodiment 10 without the benefit of a guided entrance into sheet panel28 and the benefit to guide cable tie 29 into cavity 56.

Fourth embodiment 70 is operated similar to third embodiment 50.However, fourth embodiment 70 differs from third embodiment 50 byrotating extended lands 71 and 72 and undercut grooves 73 and 74 ninetydegrees about the II—II axis. The position of extended lands 71 and 72and undercut grooves 73 and 74 has no effect on the function of fourthembodiment 70. Moreover, the relative position of the extended lands andundercut grooves with respect to the cavity for all embodiments has noeffect on the intended purpose of the inventive fasteners. Therefore,all embodiments will function well with the self-clinching features asshown in FIGS. 1 through 6 or rotated ninety degrees as depicted in FIG.7.

The cross section of the cavities depicted in FIGS. 1 through 7 isdesigned to accommodate the cross section of an industry standard cabletie. This explains the substantially rectangular cross section of allcavities shown. However, processes used to manufacture the preferredembodiment may tend to leave a radius in each of the corners of thecross section and thus would result in a more obround looking crosssection. This is highly preferred over a substantially round cavity asfound in the Winton patent or the Penn Engineering & Manufacturingfastener.

A round cavity would produce a taller fastener and would not have a lowprofile as disclosed in the preferred embodiments.

Accordingly, the scope of the invention should be determined not by theembodiments illustrated, but by the appended claims and their legalequivalents.

1. A fastener to provide an anchor point for a cable tie and to befastened to a sheet panel, the fastener comprising: a self-clinchingbase to self-clinch to the sheet panel and including first and secondextended lands; and a body extending from said base and having a cavityto receive the cable tie, the cavity extending in a direction throughsaid body and adapted to be parallel to a surface of the sheet panel andhaving a non-circular cross-section; wherein the body is adapted toenter an aperture in the sheet panel prior to the first and secondextended lands entering the sheet panel, and the first and secondextended lands maintain a constant distance from each other during theentering of the aperture by the body.
 2. The fastener as claimed inclaim 1, wherein said body comprises first and second side guide wallsleading to said cavity, and sloping inward of said body as a distance tosaid cavity decreases.
 3. A fastener to provide an anchor point for acable tie and to be fastened to a sheet panel, the fastener comprising:a self-clinching base to self-clinch to the sheet panel and includingfirst and second extended lands and corresponding first and secondundercut grooves adjacent thereto; and a body extending from said baseand having a cavity to receive the cable tie, the cavity extending in adirection through said body and adapted to be parallel to a surface ofthe sheet panel and having a non-circular cross-section; wherein thefirst and second extended lands are adapted to press into the sheetpanel after the first and second undercut grooves enter the aperture,and the first and second extended lands maintain a constant distancefrom each other during the entering of the aperture by the body.
 4. Thefastener as claimed in claim 3, wherein said body comprises first andsecond side guide walls leading to said cavity, and sloping inward ofsaid body as a distance to said cavity decreases.